10 Ways Social Media Can Improve FDA Communication & Education on the Salmonella Issue

Here's a critically important  "case study" question?  If you were in charge of digital or social media strategy for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amidst this Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak, what extra steps would you take to address consumer concerns and curiosity around the issue?  This is certainly a timely question, as we have a new administration that's already set a high bar on creative, if not breakthrough, use of the web as a communications channel, loyalty builder, and rapid-response tool --  a development the New York Times nicely captured this morning ("Melding Obama's Web to a YouTube Presidency").  Indeed, scarcely a minute after Obama took the oath last week, a new WhiteHouse.gov was up and running for business, receiving no shortage of blog and Twitter mentions and accolades.

Now we have an urgently pressing issue on the citizen-needs plate, and one that seems to share a close relationship with news headlines:  a legitimate public scare about Salmonella Typhimurium (that's already led to a growing number of product recalls).   Close analysis of web traffic trends suggest that consumers, media and other "influencers" are already linking to FDA site content.  But is that enough?  After watching my wife Erika remove a few peanut-butter laced food items and snack bars implicated by the scare from our food cabinets, I found myself wondering whether any business or government agency associated with such an issue could do more to service consumers in this time of anxiety and fear.

Current FDA Site Assessment:  This curioosity inevitably led me to a much closer look and critique of the FDA.gov website.  Overall, it's pretty good.  Relative to other government sites, the FDA.org site seems quite timely and relatively easy to use.  Real estate dedicated to the Salmonella issue is front and center of the website, and the site search engine sits prominently above it to the right (a place usability research frequently cites as ideal placement).  There's a separate, information rich-page dedicated to the crisis, and that page includes both email lists for recall alerts as well limited (albeit not prominently advertised) RSS feeds.  There's a recall-specific search engine dedicated exclusively to the products in question, and blog links suggests its getting decent traction from consumers, media, and other influencers.   I also really liked the fact that the FDA provides simple, rapid turn-around press release templates for food manufacturers to communicate specific recall related news to consumers.  Lastly, all the links on the site add value, including a link to a Salmonella specific page from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Both FDA.org and CDC include content in Spanish, but such content is a bit more readily accessible and visible via the CDC site.

Ten Strategies to Address the Issue

Still, it just seems -- amidst this unprecedented wave of digital innovation we're witnessing (and experienced ourselves) these days -- like there's more than can be done to make it easier for consumers to educate themselves (or others) about the Salmonella issue...and perhaps even take action.  With social media and Web 2.0 top of mind, here's a short list of potential strategies and tactics.  I invite/encourage others to fill the gaps or add additional perspective. 

-- Leverage Video to Address Concerns With Empathy:  There's nothing like the power of "sight, sound, and motion" to reassure consumers in times of anxiety or fear, and this is something the Obama campaign did extremely well with their campaign web strategy, and even during the transition period with the YouTube "weekly addresses."  We also saw this with the Mattel CEO's video response on one of the toy recalls.  Video connects emotionally better than text, and for millions of consumers, it might just be a better, more effective way to walk them through a difficult situation. But then again, let's not make this too complex. The web is now like a TV set, and video is getting easier and easier to produce. In addition to prominent "explain the situation" video content, the FDA or CDC could also leverage shorter-form videos in standard Frequently-Answered-Question (FAQ) formats.

 -- Enable Sharing of FDA Site Content Related to the Scare:  There's something about safety that triggers our desire to help or share things with others.  Put another way, safety and word-of-mouth share a symbiotic relationship.  There's no shortage of ways the FDA can enable more sharing and distribution of its content: Digg This, ShareThis, Discuss on FriendFeed, Save to Del.icio.us, Technorati links, etc.  This is all pretty serious stuff; it deserves to be shared.  We all do this in our blogs almost intuitively, but it's more important than ever in a safety crisis where there huge upside in getting relevant information to the right people at the right time. 

-- Create "Safety Satellites" on Social Networking Site:  With the massive migrations of consumer attention to social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, government agencies might consider setting up what we might term "safety satellites" on these platforms.  Good old fashioned advertising is an obvious way to get started, but I'm talking about a "co-created" (FDA + concerned consumer "fans") content. There's plenty of non-sanctioned FDA related content on these sites, but the specific and current Salmonella issue is terribly easy to find (and I'm still not sure if its there at all).  Just think about it, tens of thousands of folks became "fans" of the pilot, Captain CB Sully Sullenberger, of the US Airways flight; there's no question lots of concerned parents would join a site dedicated to this Salmonella issue.  The name of the game in these situations is to educate everybody, and not just the folks who visit brand or government websites.  

--  Create Embeddable "Issue Widgets":  In addition to providing "sharing" functionality on site content, the FDA might also consider syndicating widgets that can sit on top of other websites.  Again, when there's crisis, consumers go the distance to share and educate others.  So imagine making the "search engine" focused on finding certain products sitting on "moms" blogs or other sites. Such widgets could be especially impactful with wireless devices.No shortage of possibilities here.

-- Overlay "No Shopping List" Functionality on Top of the Product Search Engine: Second, not unlike an eCommerce site, make it really easy to bookmark, tag, or transfer to a "list" all the products that relate to the consumer. That way the consumer can easily inventory the products they need to clear from the shelf, or avoid while shopping. This too could be enabled through mobile.

-- Build a Simple "Event" Blog on the FDA.org Website:  While I'm a bit hesitant to over-hype the value of blogs -- there are plenty of "bad" examples out there -- I do think can be especially valuable in "event" situations, and a recall event -- where consumers are constantly looking to "reflesh" information is a perfect time to set up a blog to provide a constant stream of readily accessible and easily to subscribe to content. In all the recalls I've studied over the years, I've always been impressed at how well activist groups have leveraged blog publishing to efficiently and constantly share information. Blog content also indexes well in search engines, and much of the government content still feels sub-optimizes in the context of search.

-- Video Shopping Guides:  With the proliferation of iPhones and iPods, there's enormous potential to provide downloadable "video shopper guides" focused on helping consumers navigate the complexity of peanut butter products.  Mobile devices in general dramatically open up the possibilities to provide consumers with critical information at the very shopping experience.

-- Leverage WhiteHouse.gov:  Right now there's an extraordinary amount of "influencer" attention focused on the current and planned social media innovations on WhiteHouse.gov. Right now the site fires back blanks when you type Salmonella, but building type of bridge to the FDA.gov site would not only show administrative coordination, but further expand the "funnel of awareness" around the issue.

-- Help Refresh Wikipedia:  Editing or contributing to Wikipedia is no simple task, but given that wikipedia is such a dominant force in shaping consumer attitudes -- last week's Edelman Trust baromenter found Wikipedia to be #2 as a trusted resource among younger consumers - the FDA has a vested interest in ensuring it's most recent information is "refleshed" in the Wikipedia definition.  The current definition, which is #4 in Google search results against the term "Salmonella," lacks much of the update and essential content on the FDA.org or CDS.org websites, and while I may well be naive here, I can't imagine the Wikipedia a-list editors pushing back on such essential background.

-- Leverage Visual Search in Product Database:  While the "product search" tool on the FDA site is certainly adequate, it could be improved in two big ways.  One (an idea I stole from my wife and sister Gina) is to include photos of the products impacted to help consumers "jog their visual memory" when they are trying to find the product.  Said my sister Gina, mother of two, when I asked her for thoughts,"Photos of affected products is a great link in to layers. Photos, videos, almost always have higher appeal over text.

Again, in times of crisis, how can we make it easier to get consumers the information they need to make informed choices, and do so quickly.  Equally, how do we as communicators (whether on brand or government site) serve those needs?

So that's a start. What do you think?  What's missing? (More opportunities for feedback on FDA site?)

- Pete (www.twitter.com/pblackshaw)

Comments

[Jeff Bennett]

Peter - Great post. Excellent recipe for the FDA and many others to follow. Jeff Bennett

[Dave Evans]

FDA and Social Media? Absolutely.

Just as Wegman's is using Twitter (@wegmans) for the distribution of recall notices, the FDA has available a variety of social channels. There is a particularly compelling case for social media around food (and family!) issues given the role of the "Advocate Mom" in her specific online social setting. Sitting at the center of her online friends as the resident expert on food, family, kid's health and related topics she is a powerful communications conduit.

The current email and RSS efforts are solid, each reaching a distinct segment. They support the holistic approach in dissemination that is now (or certainly should be) the norm. The templates are especially important in spreading the "talk base" as they make it easier for other businesses in the food chain to further support the FDA effort, in the same way that Zappos' "Send this to a friend" makes it easy for consumers to share information about shoes and clothing among themselves. Half of what makes a successful social campaign is simply reducing friction in getting the information from point A to point B: Templates and widgets are strong contenders for consideration here.

Going further, the templates also ensure factual consistency and therefore support the integrity of the underlying information. This adds credibility to the distributed notices, and points up a key aspect of social media: Content recipients quickly vet information and once "OK'd" pass it on with vigor. If the information is suspect, the quality "social sources" will hesitate rather than risk their own social capital.

In the end, social media ought to be part of the FDA's communications toolbox, as it should any government agency. Many of the efforts that connect these organizations to the public they serve revolve around timely dissemination of information. Reinforcing this through social channels makes sense.

[kate niederhoffer]

Pete, your list is really comprehensive- I love the disabled shopping cart and your sister's visual reminders.

I've been thinking lately how people's perceptions of information repositories has taken on this negative connotation of 'static cesspool'. Content that isn't dynamic is old, stale, and tries to COMMAND our attention instead of asking for or meriting it. Seems like a no-brainer, but knowledge-rich sources were a high priority not too long ago. Implicitly our definition of dynamic today is social rich.

1. The one thing that really seems missing is some sense of social graph credibility. You walk away from the site with the sense that the government thinks this is important, but do your personal friends and trusted advisors? This is where something like Facebook Connect could be an interesting build...

- Just as we learn to take people who cry wolf with a grain of salt, it's exacerbated in the case of the government- even with Salmonella front and center. I have this sense of aha, it's what 'they' want me to know.

- In my opinion, anything that socializes the content and lets you know how your social graph is consuming the info, responding to the info, would be helpful. I think your safety satellite notion is good, but I wonder if FDA.gov could have some sort of API pulling in meta-content, content about how others are consuming their information in addition to highlighting the information per se. This seems right, given the increasing emphasis on individuals over memes as we decide how to allocate our attention and credibility points.

2. The other possibility, speaking more from my area of expertise is to leverage software that brings complex relationships to the forefront for consumers to understand how the landscape has suddenly changed. Make that front and center. Think Nielsen Online's Brand Association Maps (BAM) or IR engines like Endeca; think capitalizing on folksonomies and CGM. How is salmonella associated with things YOU use, know, see, buy. Maybe an on-the-fly BAM navigator for a given topic-- so imagine Salmonella in the center, a user enters a product they buy and gets taken to that word on the "map" to get a sense of how closely others are associating it? Clearly you'd need a lot of data, but in theory it could work.

[Account Deleted]

Pete...love these ideas. Very operational and execution-oriented. Giving them places to start.

The reality is the average consumer is searching google on this topic to become educated. Social media can contribute by creating and democratizing content (from the company and from its constituents or consumers) that can be discovered.

I love the video idea...though it can't just be on the FDA site. Has to get out on multiple video platforms. It has to be titled as closely related to search keywords on this topic.

Also, they should enable consumers to share stories of what actions they took and what they learned. Make that accessible to SEO, and share that across other sites on this topic via javascript widgets. Make FDA be the hub, but allow spokes to be distributed throughout blogs and other sites (even ecommerce sites that sell related products).

And finally, FDA needs to be a core place to measure and distribute the voice on this topic to the industry (stores, manufacturers, consumers). Kind of like Google did with their trending chart of flu searches.

[Peter Kim]

I echo Kate's point on credibility. The FDA is a government agency and Edelman shows us that the trust isn't there. They need to do more than create and disseminate content in new channels - they need to build relationships.

Related - the potential pick of Dr. Gupta for Surgeon General to bring more attention to the post. Why? Most people probably trust WebMD, Wikipedia, or Google search results more than an official government spokesperson these days.

The FDA needs to transform itself from being a faceless "administration" and show its composition of passionate and educated public health professionals. Then they'll be able to activate social media and benefit from its expediency, among other things.

Integrating with current social structures needs to happen as well. Anyone with kids knows that phone trees still exist, along with email chains. Why haven't any of these networks been activated to disseminate useful peanut-related information? I haven't heard anything from our school system in the Boston area.

We're still a long way away from the mainstreaming of social media. For worse, in this case.

[nickhuhn]

These are very interesting solutions, Pete, and the comments are spot-on as well. I wonder, however, how to implement solutions *outside* of the web browser, but still leverage social media's strengths and relatively wide proliferation.

The need for alternative intersections with social media channels might be demonstrated in this case. Why not partner with Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google, and other daily points of departure to spread the messages a la the Emergency Broadcast System via television? Moreover, dynamically updated information displays should present these notifications to consumers at point of purchase or via email if a retailer knows someone has purchased an affected item from the database of loyalty card transactions.

As Peter Kim suggested, social media and intelligent tech/web strategy can and should be applied outside of the traditional browser environment also. [It is my hope that] most social interactions still occur offline, so I'd expect as a valued customer, taxpayer, and parent I'd be communicated to accordingly.

[Nick Vehr]

Pete - great post for all srategic communication professionals. Lists like these generate thought and when you focus on very topical issues it helps in discussions with clients. I'll be sure to share a link and discuss on my blog (http://vr3blog.wordpress.com)

[Fred]

what a great set of ideas. if they just did half of these, it would be huge.

open government is coming and it is going to be transformative

[Chandler Koglmeier]

Pete- As you hint at- I think this type of thing (major event, affecting many, fast potential dispersion and high engagement level for short duration) is PERFECT for social media as a major awareness building tool. Early awareness and information distribution is the epitome of positive "social currency" and I would think the early announcements/updates would get passed around very very fast. But you've covered most of that.

Here's what I think you all missed:
If the FDA should be using video and is prepping a form press release- why not take it to the next level? Post messages from all parts of the supply chain (especially the producer) explaining what is wrong and what is being done to rememdy this situation? This, I think, would build even more trust in what is being said if that edelman survey about who is to be trusted is real. This should also drive more eyes/help the business in recovery on the backend.
If there is anything to be learned from the Obama team, its that more information on things which interest the public will be well received and passed around. Transparency is a must- I think this goes back to my other points, but I think the social media arena is a place that builds a feeling of transparency (even if its really no more transparent than otherwise) and that in itself is highly valuable for the FDA/business community.